India: Statement of the Right to Food Campaign against the repeated police firings in Jharkhand

November 8, 2016

We condemn the repeated firing by Jharkhand police on people’s struggles against displacement in the villages of Gola, Badkagaon and the town of Khunti

Right to Food Campaign strongly condemns the violence unleashed by the Jharkhand Government on tribals which has resulted in the deaths of 7 persons and injuring more than 80 persons in the last two months. Adding on to the suffering of the people, large numbers of innocent people have also been arrested, criminalising people’s peaceful resistance movements and undermining democracy.

These incidents over a period of less than two months have completely exposed the anti-people and pro-corporate face of the Raghubar Das BJP Government. This is also in line with complete support being extended by BJP led governments in Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Gujarat to trigger-happy security forces and the shameless promotion of corporate profiteering in the name of development at the cost of life and livelihood of the people. The Chief Minister of Jharkhand also gave a blatant, unlawful violent threat to those opposing the amendments in Chotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act(CNT-SPT)by giving a statement that all those who stand against these amendments will be beaten up.

The killings at Gola, Ramgarh took place on the 29th of August, at the Inland Power’s plant as villagers were protesting the displacement which was to follow soon after as Inland Power a subsidiary of Inland World Logistics wanted the land for the installation of the second unit 63 MW coal-based thermal power plants near Gola, where police firing resulted in the death of two persons.

Similarly in, Badkagaonblock of Hazaribagdistrict four people were killed in a police firing on the 1st of October where people were protesting the acquisition of land and displacement by National Thermal Power Corporation for their Pakri-Barwadih coal mine. Till now several persons have been killed in Badkagaon due to police firing. On 23rd June 2013 one person was killed and then on 14th August, 2015 many people were injured. The Pakri-Barwadih project has been mired in controversies from day one when the mine was allotted in the year 2004 and when construction work started in 2006. People have been opposing the project in their area from the day the mine was allotted and haven’t moved despite the compensation having been increased. Heavy repression has continued from day one. The mine was allotted to NTPC as a Captive mine for its Power Plant. But the entire project was outsourced to one Australian company named Thiess India/Minecs, a subsidiary of Thiess Private Limited, a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings (Australia). Later citing reasons for delay in developing the mine the contract was cancelled by NTPC and awarded to Thriveni-Sainikcompany. This, for all practical purposes, is nothing short of privatization of the mine, while keeping a Public Sector Company as the face.

Then on the on 22nd Oct, when people were protesting the BJP governmentâ€™s ordinance to amend the CNT-SPT Acts, which have been in existence since the British periodto protect the lands from outsiders. Adivasis from Khunti were going to Ranchi to protest against these amendments and to unitedly resist this ordinance. Government disallowed this unity and in the police firing one person was killed and at least ten people were injured on 22nd Oct 2016.

The three separate incidents only show the cruel face of the State. It also shows the status of the tribals in Jharkhand, even after 15 years of its formation. The campaign condemns the reign of terror which has continued in the villages of Badkagaon even after the 1st October incident. It has been reported that since 1st October the police and rapid action force (RAF) continue to wage violence on innocent villagers. People are being picked up randomly on the pretext that they were part of the agitation. In the fear of police violence a number of families have fled from the villages or have sent the women and children somewhere else.

At the heart of the recent killings is the Stateâ€™s bid to forcefully acquire land for setting up infrastructure projects, mining and the stateâ€™s own discomfort with the laws governing and protecting the rights of the tribals over their land, water, forests and minerals. The State Government has been in the process of bringing major amendments in CNT-SPT Acts, which will facilitate the easy conversion of tribal land for non-agricultural uses paving the way for easy acquisition.

There is a growing unrest in Jharkhand today and what is obvious is the large scale social unrest, which will only lead to more deaths and killings. The Tribals in the state are already facing acute hunger and the deaths and further bid of conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes is only going to make the situation worse. The recent Rapid Survey on Children of the Government of India shows that 53% Adivasi children in Jharkhand are malnourished (stunted) and 41% adolescent girls have a low body mass index.

The Right to Food Campaign strongly opposes any forced land acquisition by the government. The campaign believes that ensuring food security in a comprehensive manner includes protecting peopleâ€™s ownership over natural resources (Forest, Land, Water and Minerals). The Gola and Badkagaon killings have once again proved that the present Governments both at the State and the Centre are more concerned with supporting corporate profits by aiding them in taking away natural resources from people rather than working towards protecting peopleâ€™s rights over resources and livelihoods.

The Campaign is also against the present model of development wherein, in the name of power generation, multi-crop agricultural lands are being acquired, which goes not only against the rights that the people have over natural resources but also are a threat to food security and food sovereignty.

The Right to Food Campaign extends solidarity to the ongoing peoplesâ€™ resistance in Jharkhand including in Badkagaon and demands that:

Â· The Government must listen to the demands of the people and ensure that pro-company changes are not made to the CNT and SPT acts.

Â· The opposition of the people to the various ongoing projects in Gola and Badkagaon, must be paid heed to and a resolution within the framework of the law be found.

Â· Forcible land acquisition and mining should be halted immediately and Gram Sabha and project affected peopleâ€™s consent must be sought as per the Land Act 2013, Forest Rights Act, CNT and SPT Acts, as and where its applicable.

Â· A fair judicial enquiry, by a sitting Supreme Court judge, should be instituted in order to examine the three incidents of police firing. This enquiry must be conducted speedily.

Â· The policemen responsible for the deaths must be booked urgently, as stated by the Supreme Court through its various orders, which can only put a check to the trigger happy police force.

Â· The family members of deceased and injured should be paid adequate compensation.

Â· The unconditional release of all prisoners picked up subsequent to these firings.

Steering Committee of the Right to Food Campaign:

National Networks: Kavita Srivastava and Dipa Sinha (Conveners Right to Food Campaign), Annie Raja, (National Federation for Indian Women), Colin Gonsalves , (Human Right Law Network), Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Anjali Bhardwaj, (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information), Madhuresh, ArundhatiDhuru and UlkaMahajan (National Alliance of Peopleâ€™s Movements), Asha Mishra and KashinathChatterjee (Bharat GyanVigyanSamiti), Ashok Bharti (National Conference of Dalit Organizations), AnuradhaTalwar, GautamModi and MadhuriKrishnaswamy (New Trade Union Initiative), BinayakSen (Peopleâ€™s Union for Civil Liberties), SubhashBhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector workers), Paul Divakar and AshaKowtal (National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights), Mira Shiva, RadhaHolla and Vandana Prasad (Jan SwasthyaAbhiyan), Ranjeet Kumar Verma, Prahlad Ray, Praveen Kumar, AnandMalakar (RashtriyaViklangManch), LaliDhakar, Sarawasti Singh, ShilpaDey and RadhaRaghwal (National Forum for Single Womenâ€™s Rights), G V Ramanjaneyulu, KavitaKuruganthi (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture), Jashodhara (National Alliance for Maternal Health and Human Rights), Ilango (National Fishworkers Federation), Zasia, Sonam, and Noor Jehan (Bhartiya Muslim MahilaAndolan)

State Representatives: M Kodandram, Rama Melkape, Veena Shatrughana (Andhra Pradesh), Gangabhai and Samir Garg (Chhattisgarh), Abhay Kumar (Karnataka), Suresh Sawant, MuktaSrivastava (Maharashtra), Balram and James Herenj, Gurjeet Singh, Dheeraj (Jharkhand), Ashok Khandelwal, Shyam and Vijay Lakshmi (Rajasthan), Sachin Jain (Madhya Pradesh), Joseph Patelia, SejalDand, Neeta Hardikar and (Gujarat), Saito Basumaatary, RajuNarzari, BonditaAcharya and Sunil Kaul (Assam), Rupesh, (Bihar), V Suresh (Tamil Nadu), BidyutMohanty Raj Kishore Mishra, (Orissa), Ranjeet Kumar Varma, Bindu Singh, Sabina and Richa (Uttar Pradesh), Amrita Johri, Abdul Shakeel, Vimla, Koninika Ray and Rajender Kumar (Delhi), Fr Jothi SJ and Mr. Saradindu (West Bengal)

Individual Representatives: ManasRanjan, VidyaBhushanRawat, AnkitaAggarwal, Swati Narayan, RituPriya and AdityaShrivastava

8 à¤¨à¤µà¤®à¥ à¤¬à¤° 2016

India: Statement of the Right to Food Campaign against the repeated police firings in Jharkhand

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